well hey everybody welcome to the series "so you own a.." is a series put
on by carl's mower and saw we're going to try to go over
every product that we sell and give you the ins and outs of
ownership of the product that you have purchased. so today's focus
is the STIHL MS-170 chainsaw we're gonna go over
all the basics how to start how to shut it off
how to adjust the chain what we should run for fuel and all those sort of
things so let's start with the basics
one is this is a two cycle machine right so
that means i have mixed fuel running in this
there's two ways to do that one is the traditional way
buying a bottle of oil and mixing it with
one gallon or two and a half gallons of fuel depending on what size you have
and what size bottle you buy. now with carl's mower and saw we always
recommend an ethanol-free fuel. it has proven over and over again that
if we run fuel with ethanol it's going to do damage to
the machine and we do not want to have that happening to your prized
new tool. the other option besides the mix oil is what's called
STIHL moto mix and guys let me tell you this is the
ultimate it's a 93 octane something we can't buy here in our area
it's pre-mixed it's ready to roll it's ethanol free
and this stuff just runs amazing and on top of that it stores amazing it has a
two year shelf life once i crack the lid so
for me i may run normal fuel most of the time but any time this
machine is going to hibernate i'm going to put it away or store it
with moto mix so highly recommend moto mix, worth checking
out. you can buy it in quartz half gallons or gallons
and think about using it in all your small handheld two cycle products
whether that's a blower, chainsaw, trimmer or hedge trimmer and then the last thing
before we get too far into it is bar oil what is bar oil? bar oil lubricates
the bar and the chain remember this thing is spinning
super fast right obviously it's not running right now but when i'm running
this it is spinning fast and there's a lot of
heat and friction that's building up so i need to lubricate it well why do i
need bar oil right why can't i just use normal oil
well let's talk a little bit about bar oil it's slippery
like normal engine oil okay there's my slippery
but it's also really tacky if i were to go to the auto parts store and buy some
motor oil i wouldn't have this tackiness it's important to be tacky so that
sticks on the bar and chain. wipe that oil on my
pants that makes my wife happy! all right let's move on let's talk about
starting this saw the methods and what you're gonna do to start it. first
of all anytime i start a chainsaw i engage the brake what does the brake
do? let me take the brake off a minute when
i pull the lever back the chain is free to spin when it is
forward the chain is stopped that break serves a
lot of purposes one is if i'm cutting wood and the
machine were to kick back it engages the brake
that's a big protection point two is when i'm walking around
carrying this saw like this and if there were a high idle and that chain started
spinning i really don't want that to happen so i
want the brake on and third is when i am starting this machine and i'm in this
position i don't own this saw and i don't want to
be in that position with a chain that's able to spin so
first of all engage the brake now remember this brake is really
laboring the engine and heating up the clutch so be careful
not to try to run this saw with the brake engaged okay?
all right, how to start this saw STIHL master control lever right here
squeeze the trigger push this all the way down
that is the choke position it's not going to start there it's going to
pop, it's going to fire, it's going to fart, whatever word you want to use and
that's going to happen after the second or third pull
immediately move the lever up or the switch up one position this is
where it's going to start and when it starts it's going to be running at a
high rate of speed remember i got the brake on so very
quickly i want to squeeze the trigger, pop and you'll see that switch moved up
one position and this is the normal run position so
when it's in that position if i'm by the wood
take the brake off and i'm free to cut and then all the way up is off
once the saw is warm i can just turn it on
and pull the rope and it'll start so let's go over starting this so i'm going
to put the brake on i'm going to squeeze the trigger i'm
going to push all the way down to choke and i got two ways i should and will
start this i can either start it with a leg lock
like this or i can put it on the ground and i can put my foot in here okay? never
a drop start that is not safe with a chainsaw
so i've got my chaps on. chaps are important they protect my legs from a
chain that's spinning fast okay i've got my chaps on i've got my ear
muffs i got my face shield i'm not going to drop the ear muffs and
face shield for this quick start up but i've got on choke okay you heard that
pop? that was nice it popped on the first pull
that's not because i pre-started it. up one notch
to the start position now remember the brake is on
okay i flipped this switch and it dropped down to idle okay? so i'm not
really roasting that break okay? and then all
the way up is off. okay continuing on
back to this side fuel goes right here we talked about what
fuel to run ethanol free with a chainsaw two-cycle oil and also
bar oil. bar oil goes here every time i fill the fuel i fill the
bar out chain tension as i use a chainsaw
this chain will loosen right it's getting hot it's going to stretch a
little bit so i need my bar wrench and this comes
with your chainsaw right here the bar wrench is
going to go on here and i'm going to loosen the bar
nuts about a turn and on the STIHL ms-170
which you own the screw is gonna be right in the front
okay see it right there and i'm gonna turn that screw clockwise
let me loosen it up so you can see see how that chain's loose and sloppy right
now i'm going to turn this screw clockwise
and it's going to tighten that chain up
so now that chain is properly tensioned let's get my bar wrench out again and
tighten that snug just like that. so now what is the proper chain
tension it's really hard to explain in a video
key is we don't want it too tight we want to be
able to move it freely around the bar i think i got a little tight
the other is i don't want it loose i don't want it hanging so
by the book in the middle of the chain the top of the tie strap
is supposed to touch the bottom of the bar and give it a half a turn more
you want a better explanation on that stop by Carl's we'll give you
an idea of how to do that
file okay sharpening the chain a chain is going to get dull naturally
as i cut wood but it will also get very dull if i hit
dirt so if i'm cutting and i nick the dirt this chain is going
to dull almost immediately okay so it's not a bad idea to have a
file in your hand so that you can sharpen this. we've got
lots of file options, this is my favorite. this sucker not only does it sharpen the
chain it also takes the rakers down properly. okay
here's what you get when you buy it Carl's. first of all you're going to get
this nice folder and on it is going to be all of our
contact information model serial today's date i open this folder
up there's going to be a referral card hey
we love you as a customer and we know that you love the products you bought
from us tell your friends we'd love to take good
care of them too pull that out and we're going to have a
reminder talking about ethanol-free fuel as well as
two-cycle mix oil you're going to get your owner's manual
this manual here covers the ms 170 and 180 as well as a chainsaw
safety manual you're also from Carl's Mower and Saw going to get a free
chain sharpen gift card and depending on the saw that you buy it's gonna come in
a denomination that gives you free sharpening so the ms 170 comes with
fifty dollars worth of free chain sharpening
all right to cover it up thanks for buying a STIHL ms-170 from Carl's Mower
and Saw we're here to answer all of your
questions. don't forget to subscribe to our youtube channel where you can learn
all about the tools that you already own or that you're looking for. See you soon!